


Where Did Everybody Go?

by paintedbluerose



Series: Whumptober [8]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Hurt Zuko (Avatar), Whump, Whumptober, Whumptober 2020, Zuko (Avatar) Needs Therapy, Zuko (Avatar) Needs a Hug, Zuko (Avatar) whump, Zuko (Avatar)-centric, Zuko has depression, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:14:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26922700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paintedbluerose/pseuds/paintedbluerose
Summary: End of war and coronation and Zuko is alone. It doesn’t hit him how alone until everyone leaves.Prompt 8 of Whumptober: Where did everybody go?Themes: Don’t say goodbye, abandoned, isolation
Relationships: Aang & Toph Beifong & Katara & Sokka & Suki & Zuko, Iroh & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Whumptober [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1950010
Comments: 11
Kudos: 164





	Where Did Everybody Go?

**Author's Note:**

> So I didn’t feel like this was as Whump-y theme but I went with it. I decided to have Zuko feel being alone for the first time without his friends as he’s starting to run a country (at sixteen, no less!). I then started to project some of my depression onto Zuko cause that boy gotta have some issues. 
> 
> Also no dialogue for this at all. Wasn’t going to do that but then I felt that it shouldn’t have any. Weird.

Zuko knew it would happen eventually. He didn’t realize how soon it would be. Or how deep he would be affected. Last time he came back to the Fire Nation it was just Uncle he had and no one else. Now he had friends and knew what friendship felt like. It was warm and comforting and there. 

Except when it wasn’t.

It started off with Katara and Sokka wanting to go back to the Southern Water Tribe to help rebuild. (Understandable) Suki went with Sokka. (Obvious) Aang wanted to be with Katara. (Again, obvious)

So he had Uncle and Toph. Until Uncle wanted to go back to Ba Sing Se to his tea shop. (So soon?) And Toph had to go back to the Earth Kingdom and hitched a ride with Uncle. (No reason to leave though?)

Then he was alone. Utterly and completely alone. He had Mai, which was nice but was different from a friend. And since they spent just as much time fighting as they did together, it didn’t count much.

But his friends left him. His friends and his family abandoned him. He was used to it, sure, but it hurt so much. He cared about his friends. He thought they cared too. Or was it they needed him for firebending and acted like friends? They left so soon after the coronation like they couldn’t wait to get away from Zuko. He must be the problem. He always was the problem.

His council didn’t make things better. They didn’t agree with him. They liked the war. They benefited from the war. The Fire Nation was giving too much away. The Fire Nation was running out of money. Zuko was a weak leader. Nothing like his father or grandfather. If it was Ozai, they wouldn’t have these problems. It was all his fault.

The guilt ate at him. The doubt festered inside of him. The loneliness suffocated him. No one cared about him. No one wanted him. He was worthless.

He stopped eating after a few weeks. If he lost weight, no one would care. If he died, no one would notice. He was just a burden. A pest no one wanted to be around.

It was after the third or fourth day (Zuko couldn’t remember much anymore) of not eating he fainted in his office. Part of him wanted someone to find him, someone to care. Part of him knew no one would, no one did.

It surprised him when he woke up to find his friends (were they his friends?) and his Uncle there by his bedside. They all had the same expression of relief of seeing him and red eyes. Were they crying over him? No. They couldn’t have been.

Mai sent a letter to Uncle and Aang about Zuko. About how he wasn’t himself. About how he didn’t eat. It didn’t take long for them to come back to the Fire Nation for Zuko. They made it soon after he fell unconscious.

He didn’t understand why they came back. Why they came for him. He wasn’t important.

He shouldn’t have said that out loud he realized. They were shocked-he didn’t understand it. They all left him. Why did they care what happened to him? 

It was a long night and a long week with them by his side. They were there to comfort him, to help him. It took him a long time to realize that.

He was still realizing that.

He would still be realizing that for the rest of his life.

This time, though, when they left it wasn’t so bad. They would be there for him. They would check in. They showed they cared. They showed their love. 

Maybe it was okay being alone if it meant he had this much love and support to go to.


End file.
